Kenneth
H. Beck, Ph.D., of the University of Maryland, and colleagues used the
changeover to an upgraded, graduated licensing system to compare
how parents involved themselves with their teens’ driver training
under each format.
Use of the new Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration Rookie
Driver Skills Log and Practice Guide was associated with greater parental
restrictions
on driving. Parental restrictions reduce accidents by limiting teen drivers’ access
to family cars, hours and routes, and driving distance permitted, and
requiring parents to know where the teens are going and when they will
be back. Teens
who were classified as higher-risk drivers or showed other poor driving
habits were less likely to report following most or all of the guide.
The researchers surveyed 424 teens and their parents before
the licensing change went into effect and another 600 afterward, in 2000.
The study
appears in the December issue of the journal Health Education & Behavior.
Graduated driver licensing systems have been adopted by 35 states and
the District of Columbia. Graduated licensing is designed to reduce teen
driving risks by easing beginning drivers into the experience of operating
a car on the road.
“Graduated licensing programs should include educational components
that instruct parents how to regulate the driving of their newly licensed
teen,” Beck concludes. “Such programs could provide structured
guidance on how driving restrictions may be imposed, monitored, enforced
and even relaxed over time.”
Traditional driver licensing happened in two stages: the
learner’s
permit, followed by full licensing at age 16. Graduated driver licensing
adds an intermediate step: a provisional license allowing the teen to
drive unsupervised but with some restrictions. Full licensing occurs at
age 18,
after a violation-free provisional period.
Maryland was one of the first states to adopt a graduated
licensing program in the early 1980s. However, it updated its program
in 1999. The state
now requires holding a learner’s permit for a minimum of four months
(compared to as little as two weeks under the old system) and at least
40 hours of parent-supervised practical driving experience. After this
preliminary period, and at an age of at least 16 years and one month,
the teens are eligible for an 18-month provisional license.
During all this time, parents are supposed to supervise and instruct their
children and restrict access to the times and conditions under which the
teens can drive.
From the teenagers’ point of view, parents instructed them about
equally before and after the changeover. However, in some areas, young
people got the message better in 2000: They started braking more smoothly.
They were less likely to drive aggressively and more likely to avoid other
aggressive drivers, not tailgate, anticipate other drivers’ actions,
obey traffic signs and signals, and deal with distractions.
The teens in 2000 did report that their parents rode with
them at least several times a week during the learner’s permit
phase but said there was not much difference once they were provisionally
licensed.
Teens reported
more overall restrictions on their driving by their parents in 2000.
Parents tended to be much more generous in their estimates of how much
time they
put in to helping train their kids, Beck notes.
Funding for this study was provided by the Maryland State Highway Office
of the State Highway Administration.
